shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:22:11 AM): just hope we get a whole day for me to woo you
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:22:12 AM): :D
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:22:27 AM): woo me??
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:22:35 AM): LOL whats that mean?
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:23:00 AM): essentially make you fall in love with me :P
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:23:29 AM): awww ;)
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:24:14 AM): maybe itll work, and maybe it wont. i think we would make a really cute couple, but i could be biased
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:24:15 AM): hehe
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:24:28 AM): haha ;;)
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:25:17 AM): it would have to be a secret though :-$
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:25:47 AM): yeah i dont want to get my ass kicked :(
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:25:59 AM): hehe, by your parents?
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:26:11 AM): yeah my mom
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:26:19 AM): yeah im fearing the same thing...
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:26:41 AM): i def dont wanna die
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:26:41 AM): haha
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:26:53 AM): die??
ponyfoot_girl93 (12/06/06 12:26:57 AM): me to
shoelessdaishi (12/06/06 12:27:08 AM): your mother would kill me, and then your dad would kill me

Through my time here at Perverted Justice I have met a lot of people, and read many, many logs. One of the things that I have heard more than once or twice from forumites or others is, \"Oh it's a shame he threw his life away at such a young age,\" or something to that effect. Stephen Michael Holt is the youngest guy I have ever busted, he was 19 when he showed up for our Flagler Beach episode of Dateline, To Catch A Predator.

That was in December of 2006, and just a week or so ago Stephen finally started his two year sentence for trying arrange a sexual encounter with a 13 year old child. Stephen fought hard against his original plea of Nolo Contendere to the charges held against him. He took his fight to higher courts. His lawyer tried to have the evidence against him thrown out on the basis that he did not know he was not talking to an actual 13 year old, that the chatlog was being recorded and that the not-real 13 year old was not actually in Flagler Beach for some of that chat.

Too bad for Stephen, he didn't get anywhere with those arguments. However, Stephen's misfortune in that regard is a win for all of the rest of us. You see, Stephen Michael Holt is not just some hapless, dumb 19 year old that happened to get himself caught up in an unfortunate set of circumstances.

No, Stephen had a track record of sorts. He was an internet predator in the making. He had a track record with us, since he was almost caught nearly a year earlier in another Dateline TCAP in Darke County, Ohio. Stephen is from Ohio, but the reason that he didn't get busted then lies within our protocols. He was not approved to be busted in Ohio, because although he was an adult at the time he was still in highschool and did not meet our age-spread requirements between him and the decoy.

Now fast forward again to December of 2006. Stephen is going to college in South Florida. He's turned 19 and he does meet our age spread requirements. He does hit up a '13 year old child' randomly in a Yahoo chat room. Fortunately for 13 year old girls in Florida he actually found me. Stephen sent me pictures of his penis, had a sexually charged chat with my decoy persona and made a several hour drive to the Flagler Beach bust house where he met the incomparable Chris Hansen and the folks from the Flagler PD.

What gives Stephen? I know it's not very hard to get laid in college. You lived in a tourist mecca! Full of women of all stripes, not to mention college students everywhere. But no, you weren't interested in women. You were only interested in children.

You're a prick Stephen.

Here's where we get to the part about catching a guy at such a young age, and why I think it's a good thing. You see I don't think he threw his life away at all. Instead I believe he now has a chance to redeem his life somewhat by learning from his experiences and never, ever trying to molest a child again. His life will be much better if he walks the straight and narrow, because I believe a pedophile or child-predator's life is nothing but pure misery. They may try to negate the effects of their twisted desires by justifications or by reinforcement of their fetishes among other pedophiles. But people like Stephen are not stupid, they know what they are doing to that child is wrong. Perhaps I relieved Stephen of a lifetime of child-molestation by shining a light on him. It's good to catch a guy like him before he leaves scores of victims in his wake. It's good for those untold potential victims and it's good for Stephen.

If you're a model prisoner, you might get out early Stephen, and either way you get a chance to make a better path for yourself. You will have the choice to not become what you might have become. Choose wisely Stephen, you're still young enough to change, maybe. Two years in prison seems like an awful lot when you're 23 years old, but consider what fifty or sixty years of preying on innnocent children would make of you.

I'd like to thank Chris Hansen, Dateline NBC and the Flagler Beach Police for the opportunity remove a predator like Stephen Michael Holt from actively stalking Florida chat rooms in search of children to rape. I'd like to also thank my verifier Subtle Sins and all of the hardworking Vigilantes that helped make this happen.